St. Paul daily globe., 1887-10-23

lOu UtCl iOlCCt w tllS
pack of Comte Jeau till the day of the
last Judgment. you would probably have
found the time little lOng-I the
Same!'
''What the devil are you talking about,
with your pack of COmte Jeau?"' cried.
Tell me while | breathe. for you've
obliged me to run furiouSly.'
1t is not the place, monsieur. though
it is true that we are i'll the woods and
SHELTERED FROM TIE BEWITCHED
ONES
that must hunt from Fagne to Fagne till
the end of time"
It'll the end of time. man? Then all
| can say is that he has dogs, this COmte
Jean of yours, of remarkable bottom.
Get me cross for Sapplor'
Don't monsieur" Pierre eXpostu-
lated. more and more serious. Danger
is but Il step from those who jest thus.
Had we waited-why, l could tell you of
scores from the bourg of Remou-
champs" And he was going on to
enumerate all the miShapS to honest
people that he had heard from ''un-
questionable authority" when | checked
him. l wanted only the history of the
CGmte Jean, which had commenced to
interest me-nOt what had happened
after his wrath had been seen.
To this end, when once we found our
selves in the valley, invited the guide
to supper with me, and when the cloth
was lifted and the fire blazing merrily l
placed bottle of PeQuet between us
and told him to begin.
At an epoch when, it would be unsafe
to say, as Gernay was remarkably fOggy
in his dates, a wolf of extraordinary
strength and ferOcity ravaged the re-
gion extending between Pepinster and
RemouchampS, the horror of its attacks
being all the greater from the, fact that
many of those bitten by it died in the
conyulSiOnS of madness. Work in the
forests and fields, owing to its advances,
was completely abandoned, the villagers
rigidly confning themselves to the
shelter of their houses and deyOting the
hours to prayer. Fortified in the thOrny
masses that skirt the borders of the
Ambleve. the animal had thus far bid
den defiance to all hunters of the neigh
borh0Od bold enough to attempt to
RID TIE COUNTRY OF ITS SCoURGE.
In desperation and despair the peas
ants at last addressed themselves to the
bishop of Liege, who, in his quality of
of RemouchampS should destroy the
creature and diSembarraSS his suffering
vasSalS. Not only a pious man. but
strongly devoted to st. Hubert, the
bishop also decreed that the hunt should
be held the same day as the fete of the
apostle of ArdenneS, and, to honor
it properly, dispatched to Re-
mouchampS. with instructions to
invoke all the benedictions of heaven
upon the hunters and their dogs, the
chaplain of his own particular house
hold. The Seigniory at that particular
time was the property Of the old Baron
of Ax-yuallnc hic hn Enp,ta nf
this history, having quilted the country
with an exceedingly unsavory record
attached to him. He had seduced the
women. inSulted the clergy, thrashed
the rusticS, and taken for his own, when
it suited his convenience, the best of
other peoples.
Worn out with complaints of his
shameless conduct and the indifference
with which he listened to remon-
strances, his father had dispatched him
to the court of the king-which king.
Gernay, as haZy in historical ma mes as
in dates, was unable to say-Where his
vices and villainies stood chance at
least of passing for amiable qualities.
The preSumptiOnS of the old chatelain
were doubtless correct, for COmte Jean
returned no more to RemOuchampS, not
even for the ObSequieS of his father,
which occurred some four or five years
after his departure for court. All the
the same, he now complied with the re-
QUESTION of the Bishop of Liege with
exemplary dOeility: possibly the fear of
confiScatiOn by the SuZerain of his do
mains from which
HE RECEIVED AN ENORMOUS REVENUE
was an important factor in this obedi-
ence, for if rumOr was to be credited he
was in no wise changed.
Re this aS if NAV however on thQ auo
of the I'd of November he appeared in
the street of Remouchamps riding upon
magnificent stallion behind pack of
100 dogs, escorted by scores of whip
perS-in and Wallets sounding the fanfare
of the trumpetS to the claShing of the
chapel bell. The sight of their lord and
his dazzling retinue at once cOmfOrted
the villagers, so long pent up within
their houses and worn with prayer; but
l must leave you to imagine for your
selves the CONSERVATION that spread
through the crowd when COmte Jean
replied TO the greeting of the burgomas-
ter and the bishops chaplain, who had
come to meet him, with an ironical obeis-
ance and a burst of laughter:
write to his highness, my reverend
able" said he, write to him that [,
Jean, of Aywalles, authorize you to say
that before the evening of st. Hubert's
day the Jaws of the wolf he has sent me
to kill will be nailed to the door of the
dungeon set apart for me by the devil.
That is all, meSSieurS; and now to the
caStle!,'
And preceded by the burgomaster and
the eclesiastic and followed by the ae-
clamationS of the people, the COmte
continued his way to the manor, the
two first according to arrangement, en-
tering with him to partake of the hos
pitality.
The repast was luxurious, for the fas-
tidiouS COmte Jean, fOreSeeing that the
resources of an establishment from
which he had absented himself twenty
years and more would be sadly made
quate, had brought with him not only
his dogs, his whippers-in, his Wallets of
kennel and household, and
THE GENERAL. EQUIPMENT
of a welI-ordered hunting stable, but
his cooks, victuals-men, buttlers, scull-
ions and even his maitre d'hotel, and
now, seated with his guests, one on the
right, the other ON the left, devoted
himself to their entertainment with SO
much zeal and success that neither the
one nor the other perceived the malice
of his wit. the always overfowing
glasses,or the rapidity with which hours
added themselves to hours. In short,
he poured to them the wines Of the
Rhine and of France in such profusion
that as the clock sounded three in the
morning. the burgomaster rolled under
the table, his sOnorous snorings there
after serving as an accompaniment to
the merriment of the feast.
Thanks to resistance which at first
had been heroic, the chaplain, friar of
fiOrid color. tall, fat and decidedly tun-
bellied. preserved better cOuntenance
Nevertheless. mis- thickened tongue and
dropping eyelids bore ample testimony
that in the quality of steady tippling he
couldn't hold candle to the terrible
Comte Jean.